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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Suzuki Summer Camp 2009

I have no superlatives left for the Suzuki teachers at the Academy of Music. Over the years I have ranted and raved about their greatness to the point that I must sound like a broken record, both to them and to the people I'm informing about them. I will tell you this, though: In a world where summer camp has become another way to warehouse your children so you can work, and parents expect very little for the money they pay to get someone to take their kids off their hands for another week of summer "vacation," the Suzuki summer camp at the Academy of Music is a gem. Children learn. A lot. Children experience new things, grow as musicians, have enriching experiences, expand their musical horizons, and come away inspired and informed. Okay, there, apparently I had more to say!

Here are some pictures and a video. More pictures and videos are in my Flickr gallery.

Sadie in her performance on the final day:

Sadie and good buddy Miranda:

The kids learned a cool dance to Musette:

Here's a way even the littlest ones can play along with the Bach Double. This was very cool for Sadie for sure, because she has heard Benny play this a lot. Now she can play a little of it:

Thank you, thank you, as always, Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Morton, Mrs. Van Gomple, and the lady who's been teaching both my kids for the last six months and doing such a fabulous job, Mrs. Stevens! Yay for all of you -- you gave my child a fun and meaningful week and I'm very grateful.

4 comments:

You're making me salivate to start my kids on instrument lessons! My sisters and I both started violin with the Suzuki method (I didn't do it for long as I was busy with piano), but well I remember the strains of "Lightly Row," "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" and then the various Minuets filling the house. What a treat for your kids to have that kind of group experience at a camp like that!

Hi, my name is Elena. I'm a Suzuki mother writing from Italy, and reading sometimes your nice blog...In mine, I also talk about Suzuki from the parents' point of view (label "Genitori Suzuki" meaning Suzuki Parents). If you don't mind, in one of my next posts I will mention your blog because I took inspiration from it to talk about the "silly words" of some suzuki songs. My post will be in Italian but if you like I can translate it into English for you. Title will be "Silly words for serious songs". I also borrowed the picture of beans. Ciao, Elena

Lydia Netzer

My name is Lydia. I’m a homeschooling, minivan-driving, novel-writing, child-wrangling, husband-pestering, pony-grooming, dog-remonstrating mother of two. My novel, Shine Shine Shine, was published by St. Martin's Press, and was a New York Times Notable Book for 2012. Find out about that on my author blog: Lydia Netzer.

Shine Shine Shine

This is the cover of my novel, Shine Shine Shine. It was a "People Pick" in People Magazine, Amazon's Spotlight Book for July 2012, and the New York Times called it "extraordinary" and "stellar." It has a Facebook page of its own here. It is published by St. Martin's Press. Find out more about it on the publisher's web site by clicking the cover!